In the past couple of weeks, the prime minister's attitude and his speech strategy at rallies has changed unmistakably. Starting his speeches with the archetypal mitron, which Modi says with a smile, the prime minister's rally speeches suddenly found more of communal undertones and less of the various benefits of demonetisation.

When Modi kick started his campaign in the state on 2 January with his Parivartan rally in Lucknow, the BJP was focussing on appeasing farmers, planning to announce some pro-poor schemes and focus on the many benefits of the 8 November, 2016 decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes. The party planned to dedicate the campaigning on making sure that the demonetisation drive was used to its fullest. The second poll issue that Modi wanted to hammer home was development. Modi stayed clear of any communal references in his speech. Until that infamous 'kabristan' speech.

The prime minister was criticised for playing the Hindutva card. Interestingly, the time when Modi made the graveyard comment, three phases of polling were already done. Ground reports did not give any political party a clear lead and analysts said that the shift from development plank to communal plank was party's strategy to engineer counter-polarisation sentiments by whipping up apprehensions about the Samajwadi Party's pro-minority image.

With 211 rallies in just 36 days, Akhilesh became the leader who addressd the most number of rallies in Uttar Pradesh. A highly-charged final phase of campaigning for the Uttar Pradesh polls culminated on Monday with shows of strength by the BJP, the Samajwadi Party-Congress combine and the Bahujan Samaj Party in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Varanasi constituency, where he camped for three days.

Around 40 seats spread over seven eastern districts, including five in Varanasi, go to the polls on Wednesday, bringing the curtains down on the two month-long exercise staggered over seven phases. Predictions aside and in the run-up to 11 March, analysis of the high-octane campaigning in Uttar Pradesh throws up some interesting trends. Number game aside, the tone and texture of the speeches delivered by the major players in Uttar Pradesh gives us an insight of what the political parties might be expecting as the verdict day closes in.

Varanasi is not turning out to be the cakewalk the BJP might have hoped for. Factors like consolidation of opposition votes and well-entrenched rival candidates against BJP's perceived fumbling in picking its nominees have come together to make contests close in this high-profile seat.

"I am a little critical. There is an excess effort from the BJP and people can feel it. Everybody has a role and stature and I think it (Modi's numerous events) diminishes the prime minister's chair," said Ashok Kumar Upadhyay, a professor in Political Science Department of Banaras Hindu University. He, however, told PTI that the overdrive may end up helping the saffron party by winning over floating voters who are guided by the "wave".

Many of the Muslim weavers are not very happy with the BJP's policies, with their Banarasi sarees having lost sheen post note ban. Besides there are old fault lines that deeply divide the community and the saffron party.

Asked if they would vote for Modi, whose road show on Saturday passed through some Muslim localities and drew good response, some youths shot back, "How many Muslims have been fielded by the BJP in UP? Zero. We are 20 per cent in the state but not seen good enough even for one of the 403 seats. Why should we vote for him?"

In Robertsganj, the district headquarters of Sonebhadra district of eastern UP, residents should be getting 20 hours of electricity. Instead, they get 14-15 hours, interspersed with power cuts. “They say they are providing it (electricity), but most of the times it is when we don’t need it,” said Ajit Kumar Shrivastava, Robertsganj resident and a small kirana (grocery) store owner.

“Right now, because it is election time, the supply has been good for the past one month,” said Shrivastava. “Before that, we hardly had power for 14 hours… sometimes as little as eight hours.” About 240 million Indians had no access to electricity in 2015. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech at the Wembley stadium in London on November 13, 2015, he said: “As many as 18,000 villages need electricity. There are not even electricity poles. In the next 1,000 days we will ensure they get it.” Of 18,452 unelectrified villages in India, 5,438, or almost 30 percent, are yet to be electrified.

Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, while addressing a rally at Muzaffarnagar on 2 February, 2017, and in this interview to The Hindu on 22 February, 2017, has claimed that his government is now providing 24-hours-a-day electricity supply to cities and 16-18 hours a day to villages. At another rally on 9 February, 2017, in Kosi, Yadav claimed the government was providing 22-24 hours of electricity a day in cities while villages were being provided with 14-16 hours' supply a day.

Not only do the claims vary from rally to rally, they also do not match official figures given to FactChecker by Purvanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Limited (PVVNL), the state-owned distribution company that supplies power across eastern Uttar Pradesh. While cities were provided with round-the-clock power, district headquarters and larger towns received 22 hours of electricity and villages received 18 hours, said Chandrajeet Singh, chief engineer at PVVNL.

Only 30 km south-east from Muzaffarnagar, where Yadav made the claim of 16-18 hours of power to villages, is Sambalhera, where local resident Mohammed Taleem said they received electricity only for 10-12 hours a day. READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed an election rally on 16 February, 2017 in Barabanki, 30km from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh that has seen three phases of voting in a seven-phase poll for the next legislative assembly. IndiaSpend checked five claims made by Modi during the speech

CLAIM 1:

"Lekin agar sarkar ki school main…akhilesh ji ka kaam bolta hai…ki 50% teacher ki bharti hi nahi hui hai, to garib ka baccha padhaai kahaan karega?" (If, as work done by Akhilesh Yadav government shows, there is a 50% vacancy in teacher posts in UP, where will the children of the poor get education?)

Fact: Modi is partially right. As many as 23% teacher posts in elementary grades (up to Class 8) and 50% posts in secondary schools ( Class 9 and Class 10) are vacant in Uttar Pradesh, IndiaSpend reported in December 2016.

CLAIM 2:

"Hindustan mein sabse jyada..daliton par atyachaar agar kahin hote hai, to us pradesh ka naam hai Uttar Pradesh." (If there is a region in India where crimes against lower castes are the highest, it is Uttar Pradesh)

Fact: Modi’s claim is wrong.

Though crimes against Scheduled Castes (SCs) were the highest in UP at 8,358 cases, with 8,460 people affected in 2015, UP’s crime rate, or crime per 100,000 SC population, was 20, less than Gujarat (26), Madhya Pradesh (37) and Goa (51), according to data from the National Crimes Records Bureau.

It is highly mystifying to people in Raebareli. They had seen it in TV news, read it in newspapers that Priyanka Gandhi was the one who finally saw to it that Congress’ alliance deal with Samajwadi Party was sealed. They had also come to know through media reports and from whatever political gossip they had heard that she was now poised to take a bigger role, campaign all over Uttar Pradesh than just nurturing twin family constituencies, Raebareli and Amethi.

But people here were in for a surprise of a different kind. They are in fact a bit intrigued by her absence. Last time they had enough of Priyanka Gandhi in 2012 assembly elections, who was here for about a fortnight, had gone to almost every big nukkad in six assembly segments of her mother’s parliamentary constituency, spoke there, waved hands, spent moments with womenfolk, party workers and other sundry voters in all strata of society.

While local Congress leaders claim that Priyanka was occupied with some family matters but that’s no explanation for ordinary locals. In the last Assembly election, she had held about three dozen rallies in six assembly segments Raebareli and slightly less number in four assembly segments of Amethi parliamentary constituency, held by her brother Rahul. In the parliamentary election, she was managing Raebareli and Amethi.

When asked whether Ram Temple is one of the poll issues, Keshav said, "Ram temple is a matter of faith for us. We have mentioned it in our manifesto as well. As far as Uttar Pradesh ke Ladke are concerned, the youth of UP will give them a reply."

Winds of change could be blowing in Uttar Pradesh. Ahead of the third phase of polling in this most populous and politically crucial Hindi heartland state, there are signs on the ground that Samajwadi Party-Congress coalition, Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav’s pre-poll catchphrase “UP ko ye saath pasand hai” is not striking the desired cord among the numbers of voters required to catapult them to power.

It’s true that there are no obvious signs of anti-incumbency against Akhilesh Yadav but the endorsement sentiments to bring the incumbent back to power is clearly missing.

An excessive reliance of the SP-Congress coalition to woo Muslims has given rise to latent Hindutva sentiments across the state. The strategists perhaps erred in calculating the Muslims vote but they are not the only ones who vote. Mayawati too has erred on the same count. Scratch a bit and Hindutva sentiments of non-Yadav and non-Jatav community would come out to the fore. The situation may not be that of 2014 but this factor is certainly there on the ground and that could significantly tilt the balance for BJP.

The polling percentage so far, with exception of Noida, has been very good. That is a clear indicator that voters in large numbers from all communities are coming out to vote. READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

Conventional wisdom often guides elections. But rarely does an election turn conventional wisdom on its head. A cursory glance at the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election 2017 would leave no one in doubt that this election would fall into the category of 'rarest of rare' elections.

Not let us examine the reasons why this election is one of the rarest political event in the life of the country's most populous state. Conventional wisdom has it that the party which gets overwhelming mandate only two-and-a-half years back in 2014 Lok Sabha election should have edge over others. By this logic, the BJP should have been choice for the electorate in the state assembly election.

But that is not the case. The electoral chemistry of the national election is vastly different from the state assembly polls. In 2014 elections, Narendra Modi rode on a wave of high expectation and an outright rejection of a government perceived to be led by a weakest-ever prime minister. The groundswell of support transcended the caste-barriers in a decisive manner for Modi. READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Poor, populous Uttar Pradesh was the first Indian state to have a female chief minister – Sucheta Kriplani from 1963 to 1967–but this pioneering effort has not improved prospects for women in elections. As voter turnout has risen, more competitors have stood against women candidates, fewer women have won and a growing number have lost their deposits, according to an IndiaSpend and Swaniti Initiative analysis of electoral data of the last three state elections in UP since 2002.

The only exception was for the seats reserved for scheduled caste (SC) candidates. The proportion of women winning SC seats was more than double that of those winning general seats. All this happened over a period when women in India’s most populous state became healthier and better educated, reinforcing the point that there is no correlation between these indicators and better political representation of women.

Incidentally, in Mathura the BJP has been battling a poll jinx for over fifteen years as it had failed to bag a significant win in this city of temples. Malini remains its only bright spot in this holy town of Western UP.

The first phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election in the western region of the state, for 73 seats, is finally underway. The early trend of voting pattern shows that this election is shaping up to be one of the most unique, hyper-competitive, and potentially divisive elections in generations.

Interestingly, the pragmatism of electoral compulsions is seen in full swing when we find that all the parties moderated their competitive needs and entered into the political alignment beyond ideological lines and conventional hostilities. The saddest part is that the dramatic defragmentation of political parties has succeeded in misplacing the priorities of Uttar Pradesh’s electorates.

First, the present election has become mechanical and appears more a contest between highly professional poll managers hired by all the political parties than the parties themselves. Second, the well-defined notion of ‘vote-bank’ politics is in terminal decline. The social bases of all the political parties have been seriously challenged. Read the full article here

In the 1990s, Kanpur’s leather industry employed a million workers (there are no official data), according to IndiaSpend’s inquiries with the government and leather-industry representatives. With 176 of 400 leather tanning units shutting over 10 years, according to a joint secretary–who requested anonymity since he is not authorised to talk to the media–in UP’s industries department, that number has halved.

But earnings from the auto were irregular, from Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 a month. So, Hussain is about to begin a job designing and fixing ‘uppers’ (the upper part of a shoe that contains the tongue) at a shoe factory in NOIDA, located in UP but an extension of the metropolitan region of Delhi, India’s richest province, by per capita income.

The Uttar Pradesh (UP) Assembly closes its term by May 2017. Elections to the Assembly are scheduled for February and counting will take place in April 2017. As candidates get ready to file their nominations with the Election Commission, we present our analysis of the current composition of the Assembly (2012-2017) and the participation of the members (MLAs).

In the past couple of weeks, the prime minister's attitude and his speech strategy at rallies has changed unmistakably. Starting his speeches with the archetypal mitron, which Modi says with a smile, the prime minister's rally speeches suddenly found more of communal undertones and less of the various benefits of demonetisation.

When Modi kick started his campaign in the state on 2 January with his Parivartan rally in Lucknow, the BJP was focussing on appeasing farmers, planning to announce some pro-poor schemes and focus on the many benefits of the 8 November, 2016 decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes. The party planned to dedicate the campaigning on making sure that the demonetisation drive was used to its fullest. The second poll issue that Modi wanted to hammer home was development. Modi stayed clear of any communal references in his speech. Until that infamous 'kabristan' speech.

The prime minister was criticised for playing the Hindutva card. Interestingly, the time when Modi made the graveyard comment, three phases of polling were already done. Ground reports did not give any political party a clear lead and analysts said that the shift from development plank to communal plank was party's strategy to engineer counter-polarisation sentiments by whipping up apprehensions about the Samajwadi Party's pro-minority image.

13:05 (IST)

Women vote in large numbers

Aware that it was International Women's Day on the day of polling, most women told the waiting media outside the polling booths that they were voting to ensure safety and security for women and girls. Professors and members from the teaching fraternity turned up in large numbers to cast their votes in the early hours in the Benaras Hindu University (BHU).

Ajay Rai, the Congress candidate from Pindra, also cast his vote along with his wife. He first performed puja at a temple before heading for the polling station. Rai had unsuccessfully challenged Narendra Modi in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

From 'bahu ji' to SP star campaigner: The metamorphosis of Dimple Yadav

The reticent and soft-spoken bahu (daughter-in-law) of the first family of the ruling Samajwadi Party in UP, Dimple Yadav, has finally found her groove, emerging as a major crowd puller in election rallies all over the state.

From the fumbling leader who repeatedly corrected herself while going through her written speeches, the new Dimple - the star campaigner - has learnt how to
keep the audience especially the youth involved and impress them.

PTI

12:43 (IST)

Over 26 percent voting till 12 noon in last phase of UP polls

Over 26 per cent votes were polled till noon for the seventh and last phase of Uttar Pradesh elections. Polling started amidst tight security arrangements this
morning with all eyes on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi.

Narendra Modi made UP Assembly polls a referendum on himself, but at what cost?

A glance at news headlines will give to the uninitiated viewer an impression that this isn't a race for Assembly seats at all, but presidential polls with Modi pitted against a battery of rivals. Therefore, it is pertinent to explore how and why UP Assembly election has become a de facto referendum on Modi, a prime minister who obviously can't be a chief ministerial candidate.

However, his unprecedented involvement in the campaign for state polls not only ensured that Modi remains the central figure in any narrative, but it pitted Mayawati and Akhilesh against him, instead of weaker BJP candidates.

Uttar Pradesh has had hung Assembly for 14 years, but trends changed in 2007

Voters threw hung houses in the state for 14 years and that trend changed from 2007 when people decided to deliver a clear mandate. This time, with no clear wave in favour of any party and each of the key players claiming to get over 300 of the 403 seats at stake, party insiders say the outcome is unlikely to go in one direction.

Increasingly seen as the 'bellwether' for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the results will not only decide as to who will rule UP but show which way the wind is blowing ahead of the Lok Sabha elections two years hence.

12:12 (IST)

Uttar Pradesh has had hung Assembly for 14 years, and trend changed in 2007

Voters threw hung Houses in the state for 14 years and that trend changed from 2007 when people decided to deliver a clear mandate. This time, with no clear wave in favour of any party and each of the key players claiming to get over 300 of the 403 seats at stake, party insiders say the outcome is unlikely to go in one direction.

Increasingly seen as the 'bellwether' for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the results will not only decide as to who will rule UP but show which way the wind is blowing ahead of the Lok Sabha elections two years hence.

12:07 (IST)

Spectre of hung Assembly looms over UP

The iconic dialogue — picture abhi baaki hai mere dost — could well describe the current poll scenario in Uttar Pradesh where a hung Assembly is a possibility. Even before the election results are declared on March 11, party insiders do not discount chances of a fractured verdict after the seven phases of polling that will come to an end today in the absence of any wave.

After all the key players talked about notching up 300 plus of the 403 seats, talks of a hung house suddenly gained momentum in the last phases of polling with Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself flagging the possibility of a hung assembly in the state. To win 202 or 50 percent seats this year, a party will need to get 35 percent of the vote share. Five years ago, the Samajwadi Party had needed just 29 percent of the vote share to win 226 seats.

Mayawati's BSP had won only 80 seats with 26 percent votes. The two regional heavyweights saw a steep fall two years later, with the BJP and its ally Apna Dal sweeping the 2014 general election, winning 73 of UP's 80 seats with 42 per cent of the vote share.

The BJP can afford to lose 7 percent of its vote share from 2014 to still win this year, while SP-Congress must gain 6 percent to reach 35 percent, and BSP will have to stretch about 15 percent to win.

11:21 (IST)

Over 13 percent voting till 10 AM in last phase of UP polls

Over 13 per cent votes were polled in the first three hours of the seventh and last phase of UP elections. Three Naxal-affected districts of Sonbhadra, Mirzapur and Chandauli, along with the five Assembly segments under Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency, will be in prime focus.

The BSP is banking heavily on the appeal of Mukhtar Ansari and his family. The region is home to hundreds of thousands of weavers, many of whom are Muslims. BSP chief Mayawati speaks of a groundswell in her party's favour.

"People have tried and tested both Narendra Modi and Akhilesh Yadav and there is nothing but disappointment. Purvanchal, like other parts of the state, is looking to the BSP for good governance," the Dalit leader told IANS.

10:57 (IST)

Most of SP's powerful leaders were expelled in Purvanchal region

The Samajwadi Party expelled most of its powerful Purvanchal leaders after an internal party feud involving Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his estranged uncle Shivpal Singh. Senior cabinet minister and Akhilesh Yadav aide Rajendra Chowdhary said the region has always stood by the Samajwadi Party.

10:49 (IST)

Litmus test for BJP stalwarts in Purvanchal

In Purvanchal, poverty is a dominant theme. In his speeches, Modi spoke a lot on joblessness and poverty. The BJP did not win even a single seat in five of the districts in 2012. The last phase of election is a litmus test for BJP stalwarts.

Former chief minister and current Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh comes from Chandauli. Mahendranath Pandey, an MP, is a member in the Modi government. Ghazipur MP Manoj Sinha is Minister of State for Railways. Apna Dal leader Anupriya Patel, a BJP ally, has a lot at stake too. Her parliamentary constituency Mirzapur goes to polls on Wednesday. BJP leader Vijay Bahadur Pathak says the party was confident of doing "exceedingly well" in Purvanchal. "We have performed beyond our expectations in the last six phases. We are sure of getting maximum seats in the final phase," Pathak told IANS.

With 211 rallies in just 36 days, Akhilesh became the leader who addressd the most number of rallies in Uttar Pradesh. A highly-charged final phase of campaigning for the Uttar Pradesh polls culminated on Monday with shows of strength by the BJP, the Samajwadi Party-Congress combine and the Bahujan Samaj Party in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Varanasi constituency, where he camped for three days.

Around 40 seats spread over seven eastern districts, including five in Varanasi, go to the polls on Wednesday, bringing the curtains down on the two month-long exercise staggered over seven phases. Predictions aside and in the run-up to 11 March, analysis of the high-octane campaigning in Uttar Pradesh throws up some interesting trends. Number game aside, the tone and texture of the speeches delivered by the major players in Uttar Pradesh gives us an insight of what the political parties might be expecting as the verdict day closes in.

Around 1.41 crore voters are eligible to take part in the balloting in the sprawling region that includes Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha constituency. While the onus is on the ruling Samajwadi Party to retain the 24 of the 40 seats it won in 2012, a lot is also at stake for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Modi himself as the party swept the Poorvanchal in the 2014 Lok Sabha battle.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), trying hard to regain power in the country's most populous state, has put in all its might to add to its 2012 tally of five seats. The Congress, now a Samajwadi ally, won three seats in 2012, the Quami Ekta Dal one and three independents too made it to the outgoing assembly.

A total of 1.41 crore voters, including 64.76 lakh women, are eligible to exercise their franchise in 14,458 polling booths and 8,682 polling centres to decide fate of 585 candidates, including 51 women.

Three Naxal-affected districts of Sonbhadra, Mirzapur and Chandauli, along with the five Assembly segments under Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency, will be in prime focus. — PTI

The Election Commission (EC) has prohibited exit polls for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections till 5.30 pm on 9 March following the death of the Samajwadi Party candidate for the Alapur seat, in the wake of which polling, originally scheduled for 27 February, has been pushed back to Thursday, an official said.

State Chief Electoral Officer T Venkatesh said on Monday that if any media organisation published or broadcast exit polls before the stipulated deadline it would be treated as violation of the Model Code of Conduct and strictly dealt with.

The earlier deadline of the exit polls was 30 minutes after the conclusion of the staggered seven-phase polls on 8 March.

A suspected Islamic State operative was killed here in the wee hours of Wednesday after a 11-hour-long anti-terror operation conducted by the Uttar Pradesh Police's Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) commandos. Many efforts to persuade the suspect, who was holed up in a house in Haji colony of Thakurganj area, to surrender went in vain, an official said.

After the initial exchange for fire, the ATS commandos lobbed chilly bombs inside the house to incapacitate him, but to no avail. Police teams bore a hole in the roof and blew up the back wall of the building to enter the house. Senior police officials were camping at the site to oversee the operation, which was also being monitored by the Union Home Ministry.

08:20 (IST)

People cast their vote at polling booth 127 in Mohammadabad, Mukhtar Ansari's brother Sibakatullah contesting from the seat as BSP candidate pic.twitter.com/nZsQIXeGhf

A highly-charged final phase of campaigning for the Uttar Pradesh polls culminated on Monday with the show of strength by the BJP, the SP-Congress combine and the BSP in PM Narendra Modi's Varanasi constituency taking centre stage where he camped for three days.

Around 40 seats spread over seven eastern districts, including five in Varanasi, will go to polls on 8 March, bringing curtains down on the two month-long exercise staggered in seven phases.

08:08 (IST)

As many as 8,682 polling stations with 14,458 polling booths have been set up.

Polling will continue till 5 pm in 37 constituencies, whereas in Robertsganj, Duddhi in Sonebhadra district and Chakia segment in Chandauli will end by 4 pm, an Election Commission official said.

08:07 (IST)

In last phase, 1.41 crore are casting their votes

Over 1.41 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the seventh and last phase of the assembly elections, including 76.87 lakh men and 64.99 lakh women. A total of 706 voters are of the third gender.

Targeting the SP government of poor law and order, Narendra Modi slammed Akhilesh Yadav of turning the police force into its personal fiefdom. Modi promised to bring back law and order and end mafia-raj in the state if voted to power.

14:25 (IST)

UP government is anti-farmer. Why they don't help farmers in distress: PM Modi at a rally in Rohaniya, Uttar Pradesh. pic.twitter.com/1eDa0qOnkj

Prime Minister Modi said that while other states had implemented the PM Fasal Beema Yojna, the Uttar Pradesh government did not implement the scheme as it is only interested in building vote bank and not in any development activities.

14:14 (IST)

Modi talks about his various policies for farmers

Addressing a rally in Rohaniya, Modi spoke of helping farmers procure water and urea for their farming activities. Talking about the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna, he added that his policy has helped farmer hedge their losses due to untoward incidents.

14:10 (IST)

Modi plays farmer card in Rohaniya

Talking about doubling farmer incomes by 2022 and his government's initiative of soil health testing, Modi is appearing to be invoking the farming class ahead of polls.

14:06 (IST)

Modi addresses rally in Rohaniya

"I feel proud to be serving the people of Varanasi. In 2022, I intend to fulfill people's dream to own a house. I have another dream of doubling the farmer earnings by 2022."

Invoking the recent Isro's achievement of sending 104 satellites at one go, Rahul alleged that Modi does not give credit of his achievements to anyone else and likes to appropriates others achievements.

Rahul reiterated that the people of UP have made up their mind to vote the SP-Congress alliance to power.

Invoking Vijay Mallya, Rahul Gandhi added that the SP-Congress alliance will make UP a world-level factory hub. He said that while the NDA government has given loans to the 50 richest people, his government will support factories in small towns.

Rahul taunted Modi, says he has failed to being 'acche din' and has also not helped build Make in India.

Lucknow: A highly-charged final phase of campaigning for the Uttar Pradesh polls culminated on Monday with the show of strength by the BJP, the Samajwadi Party-Congress combine and the BSP in PM Narendra Modi's Varanasi constituency taking centre stage where he camped for three days. Around 40 seats spread over seven eastern districts, including five in Varanasi, will go to polls on 8 March, bringing curtains down on the two month-long exercise staggered in seven phases.

Over the course of three days, the prime minister visited temples, held a roadshow and attended a number of public events in the holy city along with several rallies in the region, in the final push by the BJP to reach out to voters. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi also matched it with their own campaign blitz in the region. Joined by Akhilesh's wife Dimple, the two leaders held a roadshow, hours after Modi arrived in the city and paid obeisance at the Kashi Vishwanath and Kal Bhairav temples with much fanfare.

Representative image. PTI

BSP chief Mayawati, who is seeking a fifth term as chief minister, also addressed a rally in Rohaniya, around 20 km from Varanasi the same day. A galaxy of BJP veterans and Union ministers also made a beeline to Varanasi towards the fag end of electioneering, making the poll atmosphere highly charged. Leading BJP's campaign from the front, Modi mocked Akhilesh and Rahul as "delicate" people incapable of taking hard decisions while pitching himself as a grassroots leader who can bring development to the 'Purvanchal' region and the state.

Modi said the SP and the BSP are two sides of the same coin — the former being A (Akhilesh) SP and the latter B (Bahujan) SP. Taking potshots at the Congress over its run of losses in the recent polls, he said one day research would have be done to find out if it ever existed, as it is "disappearing from everywhere." During his election rally in Sonbhadra towards the end of the campaign, Akhilesh ridiculed Modi's roadshows saying these were bound to fail like the earlier ones and would lead the PM "somewhere else."

"A roadshow was held...it failed. He is doing one more...it too will fail and then again a roadshow will be held...Now he will go somewhere else by doing his roadshow," he said at a rally here.Rahul, in his address, alleged that Modi has waived loans worth Rs 1.40 lakh crore owed by 50 rich people but refused to write off Rs 50,000 crore due of poor farmers. At her rally, Mayawati claimed the people at Modi's roadshow were "mere spectators" brought from neighbouring states like Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

She said the joint roadshow by Akhilesh and Rahul Gandhi reflected they had "reconciled to defeat" and added that prayers being offered at temples and shrines "will be of no avail". Modi on Monday wrapped up his hectic campaign with a rally at Rohaniya, where he made an impassioned plea to voters to defeat SP-Congress combine and BSP, blaming these parties for the plight of Uttar Pradesh. Akhilesh, meanwhile lined up 13 rallies on the last day of campaigning.